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Are there fewer whales in the St. Lawrence this season?

On both shores of the St. Lawrence, many folks are concerned about the paucity of whales observed in the river…

|News 15/8/2022

“Window on Belugas” project receives $600,000 in funding from the Quebec government

On Monday, November 15, 2021 at 2:30 p.m., a press conference was held in Cacouna to announce the Government of Quebec’s…

|News 12/11/2021

With the Belugas… Collecting Biopsies

By Laura Zeppetelli This fall, I had the opportunity to leave my office in downtown Montréal to board the Bleuvet…

|Field Notes 9/11/2021

With the Belugas… An overview of our 2021 projects

By Alexandre Bernier-Graveline How do you imagine the day-to-day life of a member of GREMM’s research team? Hair blowing in…

|Field Notes 22/9/2021

Cetacean, whale, rorqual… one and the same?

The vocabulary used to talk about our whales can sometimes be confusing. Should we say “marine mammal,” “cetacean,” “whale,” or…

|Whale Q&A 7/9/2021

With the Large – and Awe Inspiring! – Rorquals

By Mathieu Roy As a research assistant, I have the chance to spend part of my days aboard whale-watching cruises…

|Field Notes 24/8/2021

With large rorquals… in the rain!

My name is Stéphanie, and I’m one of GREMM’s (Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals) research assistants for…

|Field Notes 3/8/2021
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the Belugas… And Start of the 2020 Season

This year, GREMM’s (Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals) season of field research kicked off on June 15.…

|Field Notes 9/7/2020
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the belugas… And their amusing behaviours

September 6: While part of the team is returning from Alaska to lend a hand to researchers studying the beluga…

|Field Notes 13/9/2019

With Large Rorquals… and Their Gaping Mouths

By Maude-Émilie Bourque August 28, 2019: it’s my last day as a volunteer research assistant for the GREMM this season.…

|Field Notes 9/9/2019

With the large rorquals… The biggest!

By Maude-Émilie Bourque Sunday, August 25, 2019. I leave for Grandes-Bergeronnes at the crack of dawn with my equipment: camera…

|Field Notes 3/9/2019

Conference: Finding Ways of Reducing the Threat of Vessel Traffic on Whales and Other Marine Mammals through Detection and Avoidance

Harald Yurk is a bioacoustics specialist with the Aquatic Ecosystems and Marine Mammals Division of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in…

|News 18/7/2019
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the Belugas… Out Fishing!

July 3, 2019: The BpJAM is back at sea for the 2019 field season, with the same crew as last…

|Field Notes 15/7/2019

With the Belugas… And Listening In!

By Mathieu Marzelière At last! GREMM’s 2019 field season is officially underway. This first week was devoted to Fisheries and…

|Field Notes 18/6/2019

Master and PhD on belugas

Two Master projects and a PhD project about belugas are recruiting! Master project - UQAR Master project - UQAM PhD…

|News 15/1/2019
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the belugas… Hot to trot!

By Mathieu Marzelière and Albert Michaud Monday, August 27, 2018. Aboard the BpJAM, we set out of the Tadoussac port…

|Field Notes 11/9/2018

Postdoctoral fellowship offer – Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) in collaboration with GREMM

Project title Spatiotemporal Individual-Based Modelling of the St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga Population Project background and objectives St. Lawrence Estuary beluga…

|News 5/9/2018

With the belugas… including one without a tail!

Monday, August 13, 2018: At the crack of dawn, the BpJAMM crew heads out toward the mid-channel buoy in perfect…

|Field Notes 16/8/2018

With the belugas… and the unexpected on board the Bleuvet!

On Wednesday, August 8, the Bleuvet team was on the water searching for a herd of belugas to carry out…

|Field Notes 10/8/2018

With the belugas… and their waist measurements!

Although this technique is already used in other cetacean species – including killer whales and right whales – it is…

|Field Notes 27/7/2018

With the Belugas… And a Narwhal!

By Mathieu Marzelière and Albert Michaud A new season is getting underway aboard GREMM's Zodiac, the BpJAM. New season, new…

|Field Notes 19/7/2018
Béluga du Saint-Laurent balise

With the belugas – GREMM kicks off new season

With new projects being launched this year and continuing regular beluga monitoring, the 2018 field season promises to be rich…

|Field Notes 5/7/2018

With the belugas: week of october 16, 2017

The 2017 season is over! Autumn is already well upon us in Tadoussac, the sailboats have been taken out of…

|Field Notes 19/10/2017
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the belugas: week of october 2, 2017

A difficult autumn… For the past two weeks, the weather has not been on our side. A significant number of…

|Field Notes 11/10/2017
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the belugas: week of september 25, 2017

Hunters on the Prowl! A few weeks ago, we observed a beluga whale spitting on the water surface to hunt herring.…

|Field Notes 4/10/2017

With the belugas: week of september 18, 2017

This week, we are giving the floor to Alexandre Bernier-Graveline, UQAM Master’s candidate in bioaccumulation and the effects of environmental…

|Field Notes 29/9/2017

With the belugas… in Alaska: week of september 1, 2017

Belugas in the Mud From September 1 to 9, we were back in Anchorage, Alaska, for a second year in…

|Field Notes 21/9/2017

With the Belugas: Week of August 28, 2017

From May to October, five days a week, the Bleuvet criss-crosses the St. Lawrence River in search of herds of…

|Field Notes 6/9/2017

With the Belugas: Week of August 21, 2017

August 21: The Bleuvet is stationed off of L'Anse-à-la-Boule. The weather is particularly calm. Amidst the last patches of fog…

|Field Notes 28/8/2017

Harbour Porpoise: Investigation in the Marine Park!

It all begins on the morning of July 10, 2017, a rather ordinary day. The weather is fairly mild, visibility…

|Field Notes 30/7/2017

With the belugas: weeks of July 10 and 17, 2017

Our team began to see the first calves of the year several weeks ago already, but in the past two…

|Field Notes 28/7/2017

In Pursuit of the Fin Whale

Last July 13, 2017, I spent my day on the water in search of large rorquals to photograph. The weather…

|Field Notes 18/7/2017

With the Belugas: Week of July 3, 2017

Identifying  Individual Belugas Belugas are not one of the most easily recognizable whale species. They do not systematically show their…

|Field Notes 14/7/2017

Who am I?

Teeming with marine life, the St. Lawrence Estuary is a wonderful place. As a research assistant at the Group for…

|Field Notes 13/7/2017

With the belugas: week of June 26, 2017

Belugas of Baie Sainte-Marguerite Baie Sainte-Marguerite is probably one of the most enigmatic places within the St. Lawrence beluga population’s…

|Field Notes 10/7/2017

Are there any beluga nurseries in the St. Lawrence?

Topic of my Master’s project: Investigation of Allomothering in St. Lawrence Belugas For a long time, studies of cetaceans were…

|Field Notes 5/7/2017

With the belugas: week of June 19, 2017

Rolling the Dice After a first week spent in the upstream sector on the north shore side, the week of…

|Field Notes 28/6/2017
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the belugas: the research season 2017 is on!

No sooner do we exit Tadoussac Bay when we spot a herd of belugas between Ilet-aux-Morts and Pointe-Noire. It was…

|Field Notes 19/6/2017

The Godbout’s humpback whale: another milestone reached!

On May 3, the carcass of a young humpback whale was found beached in Godbout. Following sampling for research purposes,…

|Field Notes 2/6/2017

Doing research in winter: here is what happens at the GREMM

In summer, the Bleuvet and BpJAM ply the waters of the St. Lawrence and the Saguenay Fjord to study the…

|Field Notes 17/3/2017

With the Belugas: Week of October 10, 2016

Final Week with the Belugas Autumn has now been in full swing in Tadoussac for a few weeks and, as…

|Field Notes 3/11/2016

With the Belugas: Week of October 3rd, 2016

This week we speak with Anthony Simond, who spent two weeks aboard the Bleuvet in September 2016 to collect bacteria…

|Field Notes 25/10/2016

With the Belugas: Week of September 26, 2016

Curious Belugas... and a Humpback This week we are resuming regular photo-ID work of our St. Lawrence belugas. We're treated…

|Field Notes 10/10/2016

With the Belugas: Weeks of September 5, 12, and 19, 2016

Beluga Pregnancy Tests: Data Collection Complete! The fourth and final collection of biopsies to determine the proportion of pregnant female…

|Field Notes 30/9/2016

With the Belugas: Week of August 29, 2016

Chatty males! This week, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather to visit the downstream sector, where we regularly encounter…

|Field Notes 12/9/2016

With the Belugas: Week of August 22, 2016

The Astonishing Miss Frontenac This week, fog forced us to work once again in the Saguenay, but luck is on…

|Field Notes 3/9/2016

With the Belugas: Week of August 15, 2016

Belugas of Cook Inlet (cont'd.) Second week with belugas in Alaska. Even if the scenery and water colour are a…

|Field Notes 29/8/2016

With the Belugas: Week of August 8, 2016

With the Belugas… of Cook Inlet From August 10 to 23, the Bleuvet team defected to go lend a hand…

|Field Notes 19/8/2016

With the Belugas: Week of August 1st, 2016

Calves, calves, and more calves. The beluga calving season is in full swing. Despite the newborn mortalities recorded in recent…

|Field Notes 11/8/2016

With the Belugas: Week of July 25, 2016

This week we give the floor to our collaborator Valeria Vergara, a research scientist at the Vancouver Aquarium, who has…

|Field Notes 4/8/2016
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the Belugas: Week of July 18, 2016

Mom, Can You Hear Me? — Continuation In the summer of 2015, we carried out a pilot project to assess…

|Field Notes 27/7/2016

With the Belugas: Week of July 11, 2016

Start of the Calving Season For belugas, the calving period runs from June to September. So it's no wonder that…

|Field Notes 22/7/2016

With the Belugas: Week of July 4, 2016

A late start but some big reunions... After a series of mechanical problems, the Bleuvet is finally back on the water this…

|Field Notes 14/7/2016

Rediscovering Whales by Ear… by Audrey Tawel-Thibert

When we boarded the boat at 11:30 a.m. on June 28, I had noticed the layer of fog that was shrouding…

|Field Notes 11/7/2016

What makes whales breach?

In an interview with Hal Whitehead, researcher at Dalhousie University, Canada, Whales Online asked him the following question: What makes…

|Whale Q&A 7/6/2016

St. Lawrence Belugas Declining

DOSSIER UPDATED FEBRUARY 8, 2016  – In 2015, of the 14 carcasses found, four have been confirmed as newborns and…

|News 8/2/2016

Belugas on the Move
Update, January 19, 2016: Theories as to Why the Project was not as Successful as Expected

At the dawn of the beluga seasonal migration, one question remains: where will they winter? This question is at the…

|Field Notes 19/1/2016

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (8/8)

Beluga stories: this is the final episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 4/12/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (7/8)

Beluga stories: this is the seventh episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 19/11/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (6/8)

Beluga stories: this is the sixth episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 25/10/2015

With the Belugas: Week of September 21, 2015

Mission accomplished! It's the third and last week of the intensive biopsy program for St. Lawrence belugas. Our goal is…

|Field Notes 19/10/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (5/8)

Beluga stories: this is the fifth episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 12/10/2015

With the Belugas: Week of September 14, 2015

Biopsies Made Challenging by the Wind In this second week of the intensive beluga biopsy program, we have spent 16…

|Field Notes 9/10/2015
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

With the Belugas: Week of September 7, 2015

THE MYSTERY OF BAIE SAINTE-MARGUERITE This week, we take a closer look at the intensive beluga biopsy program spearheaded by…

|Field Notes 2/10/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (4/8)

Beluga stories: this is the fourth episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 29/9/2015

With the Belugas: Week of August 31, 2015

One, two, three...four newborns are surrounding us! In 18 hours with belugas this week, we conducted four censuses and encountered…

|Field Notes 28/9/2015

With the Belugas: Week of August 24, 2015

MOM, CAN YOU HEAR ME? This week, the team had 11 encounters in 22 hours with belugas. Two boats were…

|Field Notes 25/9/2015

Belugas “On the Run”
September 18, 2015: Fisheries and Oceans Canada reminds the public not to interact with the beluga

News: September 18, 2015: Fisheries and Oceans Canada reminds the public not to interact with the beluga We haven't heard…

|Marine Mammal Emergencies 18/9/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (3/8)

Beluga stories: this is the third episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 18/9/2015

With the Belugas: Week of August 17, 2015

Good news for calves! In 14 hours with belugas, we conducted four censuses and a total of 10 calves were…

|Field Notes 18/9/2015

With the Belugas: Week of August 10, 2015

YOGI SWIMS UP THE SAGUENAY ALONE This week, fog is prevalent. Our observations had to be cut short. Nevertheless, we…

|Field Notes 15/9/2015

With the Belugas: Week of August 3

A BELUGA THAT SHOWS ITS TEETH Several hours at sea for Week 6 in the field! In total: 20 hours…

|Field Notes 11/9/2015

First Encounter with the Largest Animal on the Planet… Marie-Pier Poulin

I had heard that the St. Lawrence is one of the few places where one can observe blue whales, even…

|Field Notes 29/8/2015

Undeterred by the Weather… by Catherine Chassé

Waves, fog and wind await me off of Tadoussac. Even before boarding the zodiac, I know that today will not…

|Field Notes 29/8/2015

Increasingly Tuned to Whales, Whales Online Presents its New Colours in French and English

For its 15th anniversary, the reference site on whales of the St. Lawrence has been completely revamped. With a broader network…

|News 20/8/2015

What Conclusions Can be Drawn from the North Atlantic Right Whale Observations and Mortalities during the 2015 season?

A response from Véronique Lesage, Fisheries and Oceans Canada First, a little bit of background... North Atlantic right whales were…

|News 20/8/2015

Sailing expedition in Search of Right Whales in the Gaspé

A number of observations of right whales have been reported throughout the summer at various locations in the Gulf of…

|News 18/8/2015

The F.G. Creed Crew is Back in the Estuary in Search of Whales’ Prey

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's ship F.G. Creed is in the Estuary this week for its eighth annual acoustic survey aimed…

|News 4/8/2015

With the Belugas: Week of July 27

BELUGAS AND WAVES! It's been a tough week for working out at sea. However, we have completed three surveys and…

|Field Notes 3/8/2015

With the Belugas: Week of July 20, 2015

We are in the 4th week of field work for the St. Lawrence beluga behavioural study. We have gone out…

|Field Notes 26/7/2015

With the Belugas: Week of July 13

RESEARCHERS' TIPS TO RECOGNIZE THEM In the course of three days at sea, as part of our behavioural study project…

|Field Notes 19/7/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (2/8)

Beluga stories: this is the second episode of the transcript of the training lecture given by Robert Michaud at the…

|News 16/7/2015

With the Belugas: Week of July 6

Our second week in the field for the beluga behavioural study was spread over three non-consecutive days (July 6, 9…

|Field Notes 12/7/2015

What do Belugas Teach Us about the St. Lawrence and about Ourselves? (1/8)

Beluga Stories: a presentation by Robert Michaud at the CIMM on June 22, 2015, presented here in eight episodes to…

|News 7/7/2015

With the Belugas: Week of June 29

The field season for the St. Lawrence beluga behavioural study is under way. The first week consisted of three days…

|Field Notes 6/7/2015
Béluga du Saint-Laurent

Leaving the Belugas for the Winter

Le Bleuvet has been taken out of the water for the winter. For the past two weeks, the team was…

|Field Notes 5/10/2014